One of the objectives with our annual day-neutral strawberry system was to compare biodegradable mulch with standard white on black plastic mulch. During the 2017 growing season, we compared Bio360 biodegradable compostable black mulch film with our standard white on black plastic mulch. As stated from the manufacturer’s website, Bio360 is made of Mater-Bi®, a plastic that […]

Tangletown Farm is located in Plato, MN, along with its sister companies Tangletown Gardens and Wise Acre Eatery. We are happy to partner with them as a collaborating site for our day-neutral low tunnel strawberry project in 2017. Based on their experience with this growing system, they shared with us a few of their successes […]

One of our grower collaborator sites for our low tunnel strawberry project was at Little Hill Berry Farm in Northfield, MN. We partnered with owners Aaron Wills and Molly McGovern Wills on the installation of two 100 foot rows of low tunnel day neutral strawberries. They later installed an additional eight rows for their pick-your-own […]

The winter rye, which was planted in May 2017 as a cover crop in between the rows, failed to provide adequate cover to suppress weeds. By mid-August, the winter rye had died off, which allowed weeds to take over in between the rows. Our best guess is that the winter rye had met it’s reasonable […]

We continue to be impressed with the quality and quantity of strawberries coming from our day-neutral low tunnel system. As of October 3, we are still harvesting strawberries twice per week with no sign of slowing down in the near future. With the cooler fall weather we’ve been having in the last few weeks, we […]

Grower collaborators Marsha Anklam and David Macgregor run and own Fairhaven Farm, South Haven, MN. We installed five demonstrations rows of our low tunnel system at their farm. Marsha and David sell their fruit at local farmers markets, and use the berries for jam production. They have made the switch from growing June-bearing varieties to […]

During the heat of the summer months, it becomes increasingly important to provide adequate ventilation and temperature control under the low tunnel system. If the sides remain down on an 80 degree day, it may reach temperatures of 90 plus degrees under the plastic, which is too hot for berry production. In the past couple […]

In the past, we have used landscape fabric as weed control in between the strawberry rows. This method was an excellent means of controlling weeds, but expensive and not environmentally friendly (uses a lot of plastic). Since then we have sown winter rye in between the rows right after planting. There are many cover crops […]

Site visits to our three grower cooperators took place during mid-season and again at the end of the growing season. They assisted with planting, cultural practices, harvest and worked with us to develop and refine the systems in this project, and to assist in educating other growers. Our grower cooperators were: Mary Jo and Laverne […]